in which egypt, turkey, iran and ideally saudi arabia are seeking some sort of solution to the crisis. perhaps that effort being done at the regional level, the u.s. exercising its strengthened diplomacy at a more global level may help to bring the syrian crisis toward a softer landing. i would just close by saying this. i think throughout the debates and the discussions around not just syria, but frankly u.s. policy more broadly on the arab transitions whether it's with respect to libya, egypt or elsewhere, there's been this constant refrain that the u.s. has been absent. and i think there's a certain truth to that. but the second piece is that, therefore, the u.s. needs to engage militarily or needs to engage its hard power, and i would argue that between that -- within that spectrum, there are two ends of the spectrum. one doing nothing, the other exerting military and hard power influence. i would argue the most powerful and effective tool and the one that's discussed but the one i think provides the greatest hope is for the u.s. to engage using soft power. and i'll leave it at th